


The Meaning of Peace

by DraconicWolf



Category: Transformers - All Media Types, Transformers: Prime
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Character Bashing, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-12
Updated: 2016-08-29
Packaged: 2018-08-08 10:04:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,122
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7753357
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DraconicWolf/pseuds/DraconicWolf
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A message from Optimus's dying Sire leaves the Cybertronians on Earth reeling, turning their tentative cease-fire into a trip across the galaxy.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> To be frank, this story is my baby and has been for quite a while. I do not own anything, unfortunately, nor is this beta-read. If any of this resembles another fic you have seen please tell me. I'm sure this is all from my own head but there could be influences I remember only subconsciously. Please comment below. Hope you enjoy.

If one looked in on the Autobot Earth base they would see the regular chaos that ensued. On this particular day, it was caused by Bumblebee and Smokescreen pranking Ultra Magnus. Some, should they look, might even be perceptive enough to see the subtle signs of Optimus's barely contained laughter. An unknown distance from Earth, a femme was doing just that, looking.

She was a huge and ancient Cybertronian, more than three times the average size for her people. She had armour of a deep purple colour though most of it was concealed by a dark cloak covering her frame. Her faceplates were stunningly symmetrical except for a single scar, shaped like a lightning bolt, that went from the top of her helm, through her left optic, and back towards her audio receptor. She was sitting on top of a great throne with a mangy, techno-organic beast by her side and a turbo-slither around her arm. She held a staff like object made of pure cybertronium with glyphs carved into the metal that appeared to be gibberish to the untrained optic.

This femme, a witch the humans might call her, was looking at a swirling pool built into the metal floor beneath her, now showing Ratchet starting to discipline the youngling natives she had seen more of recently. The image flickered slightly, going completely dark for a few kliks before refocusing.

The femme angrily turned to her left, reached beside her throne on the opposite side of the beast, and yanked a metal chain until it was taut many times over. Following the chain and the accompanying pained screams one could see it was attached to a mech in a small cage. His whole frame was wrapped with the cabling and energy seemed to be flowing along it from him. The mech was barely online, the scarring on his plating so extensive after vorns of torture his colouring could no longer be seen.

"I did NOT allow you a break, weakling!" She snapped at the mech in an ancient language forgotten by many. The mech raised his helm with great effort and the defiance could clearly be seen in his optics, though they were dimmed with pain and exhaustion.

"You will never succeed. Even assuming your device will work, we are not powerful enough to accomplish what you desire." His faceplates twisted into an expression of pure disgust as the femme laughed insanely.

"With one of your kind having become a Disciple, I will have all the power I will ever need!" She yelled, overconfident, continuing to laugh a short time after. As she finished with a maniacal chuckle she stood and stepped forward, kneeling, to tenderly touch the faceplates of the Prime once more shown in the projection. Her helm then snapped up to return her gaze to the bound mech.

"I will succeed, little mech. Just as I did with your precious mate and all the others. I will claim every member of your family!" As she practically shrieked the last few words, sounds of rage were heard from above. The femme merely smirked at the noise and sauntered away as best she could with the cloak concealing her. This creature's throne room was built in a circular shape. Above her throne, along the walls, were hundreds and hundreds of catacombs with connections between each cell drawing energy from the mech's and femme's within them. Each cell was equipped with energy fields that kept them from escaping.

The mech below them all slumped in his position, looking at the projection sadly on the floor with coolant starting to drip from his optics. He whispered what sounded like a soft apology then struggled to control and form as much crackling energy as possible in his weakened state, watching as it seemed to melt into the projection as one large burst. He smiled tiredly in success as the femme came running back, screaming and demanding to know what he had done. The mech simply continued to smile and fell offline with a peaceful expression on his faceplates not seen since that orn he had been captured so long ago.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A call and a name.

Optimus would be lying if he said he wasn't enjoying the scene before him. Ratchet was getting a chance to use his carefully crafted reputation to inspire fear in the younglings. Optimus wasn't sure if he would have been able to give out any punishment, the prank was absolutely brilliant, and one he felt was long in coming.

The two youngest Bots, Bumblebee and Smokescreen, had pooled together their hacking and manipulative skills along with Raf and managed to change a few things around in Ratchet's medical database. When Ratchet hooked Magnus up for his regular "check up" a piece of coding was downloaded so that every time he went to use certain words, specific noises accompanied them. The word 'sir' was accompanied by the sound humans used for profanities, designations were accompanied by a matching ringtone and so on and so forth. The medic had been in recharge when it activated and hadn't known anything was amiss until about a joor after and Ultra Magnus finally was angered enough to brave awakening Ratchet.

The Prime was torn from his amusing processes by an alarm filling the base, so underused until recently it was comical, meant to alert them of any contact to the Autobots from the Decepticons.

"What could old Bucket-head want?" Wheeljack asked irritably. He was enjoying the day off with Bulkhead and his charge, the trio just about to leave to go see a Monster truck rally.

"Let's ask him." Ratchet snapped back, throwing the Cybertronian younglings a glare as he walked to the terminal.

"He's not done with us yet is he?" Optimus heard Smokescreen whisper and smiled gently at the two as Bee gave a small whir of sorrow. They grinned back as he twitched an audio receptor in their direction, the closest equivalent to a human wink they had.

"Autobot base to Decepticon warship, we require confirmation of a communications request." Ratchet called neutrally, raising his voice slightly to be heard through the link.

"Request confirmed, doctor. The Decepticons wish to invite three of the Autobots aboard our humble craft." The Bots around Optimus made sounds of amusement and disbelief at Megatron's words regarding his prized craft. 

"How generous." Arcee deadpanned.

"A message has been sent to us that we believe has great importance to you." Optimus stepped forward and placed a servo on Ratchet's shoulder plate, effectively stopping him from replying.

"Then why not simply send this message to us directly?" He asked calmly, genuinely curious.

"The message appears embedded into the ship." Was the calm reply, as if it explained everything.

"Con's haven't invented cameras yet?" Miko asked, almost, innocently. A low growl came from the monitor and the girl very quickly darted behind June.

"It is of a language we are not able to decipher." Megatron answered, his tone laced with irritation.

"You can't translate it yourself?" Ratchet unnecessarily repeated, just to get underneath the Decepticon's plating. Optimus sent him a reproving glance while Miko snickered. "I thought Soundwave would know every language throughout the Universe?" The Autobots were able to hear the faint sound of Knockout chuckling in the background.

"While that assessment is very close to the truth, there are some languages that cannot be learned, languages you must emerge within order to ever understand." Optimus noticed the puzzled expressions the others wore and felt dread start to fill him.

"Why do you assume one of us has this knowledge?" Ultra Magnus asked as skeptically as he ever could, though he too had a slight look of dread.

"Simply because there is one word I do recognize, Siochain." Optimus could not help flinching and from the helms whipping around to his direction the others had noticed. 

"Is there a signature at the close of this message?" He asked, vorns of practice the only way his voice wasn't shaking.

"Indeed there is." Came the almost casual sounding reply and a loud beep was heard. Ratchet quickly typed in a few things and an image appeared on a smaller screen next to the main console. Optimus let out a soft expletive in his base language before he could stop himself. He ignored the astonished looks and turned back to the main screen.

"Send us coordinates for a location to meet. Wait for a breem there, and you will know our answer." Another beep sounded and Ratchet shut down the link, not letting Megatron get to say a word. He then spun on his heel pede to give Optimus a somewhat distressed look.

"What did he say?" Miko inquired, now fully out of hiding. Ultra Magnus put up a servo to stop the girl before looking at Optimus with a mildly concerned expression, allowing him a klik to answer the question.

"It's two designations. The one Megatron spoke is an ancient form of the word "Peace" and the one written is "Bolts"." Optimus shifted to look at Arcee, the sound of her shocked in vent causing the others to do so as well.

"Isn't Bolts the name of your Sire?" The femme asked hesitantly.

"Your former name, Pax, it means Peace." Ratchet added.

"Was, my Sire. And yes, that is the literal translation of my family name into this language." Optimus corrected with a stiffness in his tone he could not completely hide. For the first time in many vorns he felt the sting of coolant in his optics. And this orn had been so enjoyable mere kliks before.

"Optimus?" He heard Arcee ask softly. Optimus tried to give a semblance of a smile and explained further.

"When a member of the Pax Clan goes. . . off-line, they usually take the energy within them and use it to accomplish one final act. Traditionally this takes the form of a message to a close family member."

"So he just..." Wheeljack trailed off, having spoken with an undertone of sorrow very few had heard before. Optimus nodded his helm once more.

"So, where the message is sent, it's not completely accurate." Everyone turned to Smokescreen in surprise. He sheepishly cowered a bit. "Well, why else would it be on the Nemesis?" Optimus had an answer for that as well, one he knew they were not going to be thrilled with.

"For the average Pax, yes. However, my Sire had the ability to acquire a visual feed of almost any location or individual in present time. He would have done so in order to send this message." One thing Miko had always gotten right, Cybertronian's shocked expressions really were quite amusing.

"Optimus." He turned towards Ratchet, noting the familiar way his was stroking his chin guard in thought. "You mentioned members of your family have been disappearing, over a number of vorns, including your Creators." Optimus made a soft noise of agreement. "Perhaps there is a threat great enough to ask for Megatron's aid?" He was quite surprised Ratchet was the one to propose this. It was an idea he himself had considered but had not brought it up for fear of the reaction before him.

"Why in the Pit-"

"-any idea of how dangerous-"

"I knew it! He's finally loosed a screw!"

"-it's his Sire we're talking about-" He wasn't sure if that was supposed to be a negative or positive in relation to the question.

"True or not there is no-"

"Have you all forgotten-"

"How could you even suggest-"

"QUIET!!!!!!!"

"Scrap his yell's almost worse than that wrench." Optimus heard Smokescreen mutter just before a CLANG! and a groan.

"NONE of you have ANY actual say in this matter and I'm about to say why!" He glared at each of them then huffed and crossed his arms.

"Give me an actual, legitimate reason for not going." Five intakes opened simultaneously. He held up a servo to shut them up. "And say it, while looking Optimus in the optics." They looked at each other in confusion, but Ratchet wasn't done yet.

"Go on. Tell him. Just remember that this message is one of the last things Optimus has from his Sire." Smokescreen went to interrupt but Bulkhead smacked him upside the helm first. "AND, remember that there's a possibility, if it is as serious as we suspect, this may be the best chance at truly enforcing this highly unstable cease-fire agreement we are ever going to get." They glanced at each other, their processors running through every argument they could come up with. One by one they visibly accepted what Ratchet had said, unsurprisingly Arcee was the last one to be convinced.

The Bots said a few words of goodbye to their human charges, cut off abruptly by the ground bridge opening due to a certain medic, then seven Bots walked through, leaving Smokescreen with groundbridge.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I own nothing, (weeps) except my own insane ideas (holds up neon exit sign with helpful arrows).

The Decepticons were waiting for them. Well, Decepticon actually. Megatron to be specific.

"A bit of an obnoxious move." Arcee muttered. Optimus and Ultra Magnus shared a glance, both seeing the action as politically sound from the Warlord's point of view, a large yet simple show of what might be called trust.

"So nice of you to answer my call. I have but one request, Prime." Megatron greeted with mockingly false humility, never one to engage in unnecessary discussion when it did not suit him.

"A restriction on the number of Autobots that may board your ship, as previously stated." It was not a question, he did not voice it as such.

"Ultra Magnus and your rather savage lap dog may accompany you." Optimus moved his servo so it was slightly in front of the fuming medic while Magnus silenced the others with a look.

"Those terms are agreeable." Mostly. He had no doubt the other five would not completely dismantle their base, it still left them without the three mechs that usually kept them in line. And the fact remained that they had a cease-fire agreement not one of permanent peace, and it was their Leader, Commander, and only medic going onto the Decepticon's vessel.

Megatron tilted his helm slightly with a stately optic raised, no doubt surprised at the lack of resistance over the conditions, and a ground bridge appeared behind him. With meaningful glances being passed between the Autobots, the three specified followed the silver mech through the swirling green light-

-directly into the Nemesis' engine room.

Once the bridge had closed behind them Megatron turned to half face them, not glaring, merely studying. A brief, yet tense silence ensued. A clunk was heard above, none visibly flinched. Megatron smirked slightly and turned once again to lead them towards the echoing voices of two other Decepticons.

"I thought you said you heard a ground bridge!"

"I did!"

"Then where are they?"

"I don't know. Our dear Lord Megatron is probably trying to glare a hole through Prime's helm."

". . . As a warning to NOT do something while within the immediate vicinity to our ship's engines?" A sound of assent. ". . . The ship we're currently in that's hundreds of mechametres above the ground?" A second sound of assent. "Also the engine room that holds the message that is the sole reason for this visit?" A slightly more irritated sound of assent. "And of the three he's allowing on board are two and half of the most sensible mechs to ever exist?" That sounded more like a growl.

“Knockout.”

“Yes?”

“Shut your intake or-”

“One of the rare times I agree with you, Starscream.” Megatron interrupted as they came to the middle of a rather long corridor. “Here you are, Prime.” Optimus felt his optics widen as Megatron just about shoved the two smaller mech's under his command out of the way. Somewhere in his processor he acknowledged Soundwave half hidden in a dark and spooky corner. Megatron quickly began discussing, or rather stoically arguing, something with Magnus but the specific topics were lost to him. All of his focus was drawn to the softly glowing words in front of him.

How long had it been since he'd seen his family's dialect, written by a servo not his own? Heard the whisper of thousands of voices due to their hive-like connection, awakened by the presence of more than one of their kind?

Ghost of a presence, he reminded himself. Looking at the words more closely he realized his Sire must have been incredibly weak, the energy imbedded in them only enough for small uses. The words themselves, oh how they soothed and burned his spark simultaneously. He could almost hear his Sire's calm tone being whispered into his audial, could almost feel the comforting embrace that he had not felt since just after becoming an adult mech.

My son,  
Oh my dear creation, how much I wish to hold you before I enter the Well, for it will be a great length of time before you join me there, of this I am certain. I see how much you have grown, Primus be thanked that you have the appearance of your Carrier, the inner strength and stubbornness of her Sire, the compassion and hope I myself feel and inherit from my own family that so many brush aside. I will never admit aloud you are the favourite of my creations but to you, I can allow such vulnerability, though for so long I could not visibly claim you as my own. I am proud of you, as is your Carrier, bless her spark I do not wish to leave her any more than I do you and your siblings. Alpha Trion and Vector have shown me much these past vorns. You will accomplish the greatest of things, that of finding love and safety and the wish of a family in one you may never expect to feel such for. Perhaps even find Ratchet's gruff equal, such great and rare miracles have been known to happen.

Now, a bit of dramatic darkness, our life cycles would not be so frighteningly similar to a romantic datapad if we did not have such. The Great Captor has returned my son, as you no doubt suspected, and she is stronger than ever before. Most have been captured, all of your siblings to be certain. Do not come out of hiding yet, use surprise, and a rather devastatingly handsome Warlord, to your advantage. She has used our own home against us, our beloved planet that has been the place of such tranquility for our family. She believes that you are the final key in which she needs so that she may cross the Border once more. Stupid scraplet is completely correct if she was intelligent enough to completely subdue a Pax. This message is proof enough she is nowhere near such a thing.

Make haste my creation, my time is up, and I do not know how many can continue to deal with such abuse and punishment nor how long until our absence is truly felt. Follow what your Spark is telling you, listen to both sets of siblings, troublesome as they are. I will watch on with equal amounts of fear and pride at your accomplishments. Continue to strive, thrive, and tinker throughout your life cycle.

I love you my son,  
Bolts

Optimus vented slowly as he let a smile spread across his faceplates, shuttering his optics to stop the coolant that threatened to spill over. The message was a perfect representation of his Sire's quirky, almost stereotypical inventor personality, so much like his own that he kept hidden from others. He placed his servo against the message and converted the parts he was willing to show to Megatron to Kaonian, taking the energy from the entire message and storing it within himself. He then turned around to focus his attention on the bickering sparklings in front of him. He could not help but wonder at his seemingly endless luck for impeccable timing.

"Of course, as the only craft large enough to accommodate so many for extended lengths of time we will require your continued assistance." Ultra Magnus was calmly ignoring the frightening decrease of Megatron's patience.

"I don't care if we are currently at a cease-fire, this is a Decepticon warship not your personal transportation unit!" Optimus did not like the stress put on the word "currently".

"Actually, my Lord, we seem to have very little choice." Megatron whipped around to glare at Knockout. "What in the Pit allows you to dare say......" The Decepticon leader trailed off with an expression of horror on his faceplates. Soundwave slid in beside the flashy medic, physically moving him out of the way with a gentle touch, an action that caused the three Autobots to look at each other in carefully veiled confusion, and typed away madly. Within kliks a projection appeared on the wall next to the small monitor.

Optimus felt his spark skip a beat then suddenly pound with a pure rage that swept through his entire frame. It showed over a thousand faceless drones surrounding three individuals. Three Pax' to be exact, all in their Cybertronian forms in an effort to hide their true identities. They were putting up a good fight, two being of Vapour and one of Metallic, in fact they seemed to have destroyed at least half of the drones with great displays of their power that caused even Megatron to give voice to his appreciation. Suddenly, just before Optimus let himself become hopeful, the three saw something that caused them to freeze in fear, letting their guard down enough for whatever it was to take them down. The drones then picked the three up and took them away in the direction of the unknown variable. The screen went dark with the end of the video feed. All was silent for a few kliks, not from uneasy tension, merely a newfound respect and awe that practically dripped from Knockout and was vaguely felt from the other present Decepticons.

Megatron slowly turned to Optimus, noticed the change made to the message and stepped forward to read it clearly. After a short time he snorted and returned to his original position.

"So this, "Great Captor", drains the energy from your kind to use as she sees fit?" Optimus nodded his helm. "Seems to be a worthy cause for consideration. Where might this planet be?" Optimus glanced at Magnus, one of the few mechs outside of his biological family to know the location, registered and agreed with the nod to go ahead.

"Within the lava clouds of Hepta-quadrant 86." Starscream and Knockout simultaneously let out noises of horror, Megatron's flight engine turned over abruptly, Soundwave's wings visibly shook, Ratchet simply stared at him as if he was waiting for the punchline. "The 'clouds' are sentient, they allow those in the Pax family to pass without injury." He explained calmly. Megatron gave him a somewhat calculating look.

"Regardless of unique privileges your family may be allowed, the engines of the Nemesis are not what they used to be. I can not guarantee our ability to travel so far in a reasonable amount of time." Never would Megatron be heard admitting his beauty could not complete a task, he barely acknowledged the age of the craft. Tactfully leaving out these observations, it was Optimus' turn to give a calculating look this time directed at Starscream.

"You were an accomplished scientist before the War." To his surprise the Seeker didn't preen, the exact opposite, he brushed off the praise.

"When your Sire is the Winglord of Vos you rarely get a say in most aspects of your life cycle." A surprisingly snarkless, vague answer, though perhaps a look at his own family had sparked some hidden pain.

"With your assistance and that of others with knowledge on such matters, I may be able to utilize the energy given me through the message to, upgrade your ship." Megatron raised a stately optic ridge, no doubt intrigued by the idea of improving the ship he took such pride in. 

"Allow any to join who would harm without reason, and we have no deal, Prime." With that encouraging statement said in a darker tone than necessary, Megatron held out his servo. Even now Optimus found himself looking at it with hesitancy, four human months of not blowing each other to bits was hardly enough time to cover Spark deep betrayal. Megatron gave an irritated huff and allowed his servo to melt into its original form, the three blunt-digited downright primitive appendage of a miner. Optimus felt his optics widen and clasped the servo firmly, almost venting in relief when he felt it melt back to the one Megatron was more fond of using.

"We will be ready within two human orn."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I have a dilemma. I have the next chapter done, and it fits in right where this one leaves off. I've had this story sitting for a while and the next set of chapters I have written jump very far into the future and hints at a lot of plot stuff and character development. It still makes sense, I think... 
> 
> So, do I post the chapters I've written, finish the story (because I have the plot written down and all figured out) with the leaps it has, or do I try to play fill in the blanks? This story has honestly been my baby for a while, it's insane how much editing I've put into these first scenes.
> 
> Comment if you wish, I'm open to suggestions of any kind, and see if you can guess who that question mark next to Optimus will be. ;) If someone guesses I will honestly be shocked.
> 
> Thank you for reading.


End file.
